The present disclosure relates to tire inflation systems. Vehicle tire inflation systems provide the versatility of adjusting tire pressures while the vehicle is stationary or in motion.
Certain types of vehicles, such as, but not limited to, commercial and off-highway vehicles, require that wheel assembly tire pressures be periodically adjusted for optimal performance. For example, the tire pressure of one or more wheel assemblies in fluid communication with a tire inflation system may be manually and/or automatically decreased to increase tire traction, or increased to reduce rolling resistance and increase the vehicle's fuel efficiency and tire life-span. In addition, tire inflation systems increase the maneuverability of a vehicle over differing terrains and reduce maintenance requirements.
In agricultural vehicles, tire inflation systems, for example, increase the controllability of soil compaction. Agricultural vehicles such as, but not limited to, tractors generally have large volume wheel assemblies which operate over a wide range of tire fluid pressures. Known tire inflation system valving mechanisms for decreasing the tire pressures of one or more wheel assemblies are limited by cost, complexity, and the rate at which the tire fluid pressures can be decreased.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to develop a valve assembly that solved at least one of the aforementioned problems with known valving assemblies. The disclosure herein describes a valve that, in one application, may be used in a central tire inflation system to create a high rate of fluid flow while requiring less space than known assemblies.